An’ I th’ew de wash up inter de air,

An’ I climbed a tree to de golden stair,

Ef it hadn’t a been fur Mistah Wright

I’d had ter stayed dere all de night!

*      *      *

(Underneath the southern moon

I was cradled to the tune

Of the banjo and the fiddle

And the plaintive negro croon.)

Betsy’s Boy